{"id":748753,"date":"2026-06-20T11:47:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T11:47:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/748753\/"},"modified":"2026-06-20T11:47:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T11:47:08","slug":"motogp-czech-gp-ogura-scorches-to-first-pole-position","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/748753\/","title":{"rendered":"MotoGP Czech GP: Ogura scorches to first pole position"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.autosport.com\/driver\/ai-ogura\/864914\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Ai Ogura<\/a> scored a sensational pole position in qualifying for the Czech Grand Prix on Saturday, proving that the speed he had shown earlier in the weekend was real.<\/p>\n<p>It was not only the Japanese rider&#8217;s first pole position, but his first front-row start of any description. Known for racing through the pack after disappointing qualifying sessions, Ogura is now set up\u00a0as a clear favourite for the race.<\/p>\n<p>The Trackhouse Aprilia man will share the front row with the Ducatis of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.autosport.com\/driver\/fabio-di-giannantonio\/863361\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Fabio Di Giannantonio<\/a> (VR46) and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.autosport.com\/driver\/francesco-bagnaia\/841494\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Francesco Bagnaia<\/a>, but he had a significant advantage of over two-tenths of a second over the Italians.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>With the mercury reaching almost 30 degrees by the end of the session, it was difficult to get a second lap out of the tyres on any given run. Points leader <a href=\"https:\/\/www.autosport.com\/driver\/marco-bezzecchi\/841477\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Marco Bezzecchi<\/a> managed it at the end, however, edging up to a respectable fourth place on the factory Aprilia.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He&#8217;ll start next to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.autosport.com\/driver\/marc-marquez\/829758\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Marc Marquez<\/a>, whose session didn&#8217;t go entirely to plan. His initial run was cancelled due to a track limits warning, and then he was beaten fair and square by team-mate Bagnaia in the decisive second run.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.autosport.com\/driver\/diogo-moreira\/945337\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Diogo Moreira<\/a> continued to impress aboard the LCR Honda. He led Q2 after the first set of runs, but couldn&#8217;t improve on his second foray from the pits. Nevertheless, he will line up an impressive sixth next to Marquez.<\/p>\n<p>Raul Fernandez, whose fitness may be a question mark for the races after an appendicitis episode earlier in the week, leads the third row ahead of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.autosport.com\/driver\/pedro-acosta\/875346\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Pedro Acosta<\/a> (KTM) and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.autosport.com\/driver\/franco-morbidelli\/841445\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Franco Morbidelli<\/a> (VR46).\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Read Also:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.autosport.com\/driver\/jorge-martin\/841443\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Jorge Martin<\/a> (Aprilia) continued to struggle for pace compared to the top runners, and will start 10th alongside <a href=\"https:\/\/www.autosport.com\/driver\/fermin-aldeguer\/945329\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Fermin Aldeguer<\/a> (Gresini Ducati) and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.autosport.com\/driver\/joan-mir\/829677\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Joan Mir<\/a> (Honda).\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Earlier, Martin breezed through Q1 with an initial lap that was good enough to see him defeat Morbidelli by two-tenths of a second. None of the top four improved their times on their second runs, making it an unremarkable session.<\/p>\n<p>Maverick Vinales was the first to miss out on Q2 and will line up 13th aboard the Tech3 as his future at the French KTM satellite team remains a hot topic.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He&#8217;ll start next to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.autosport.com\/driver\/alex-marquez\/829673\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Alex Marquez<\/a> (Gresini Ducati), who is not at full form or fitness on his return to race action following his big crash at Barcelona just over a month ago.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.autosport.com\/driver\/fabio-quartararo\/841449\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Fabio Quartararo<\/a> will complete the fifth row, the fastest of the struggling Yamaha pack.<\/p>\n<p>            We want to hear from you!<\/p>\n<p class=\"mt-auto\">Let us know what you would like to see from us in the future.<\/p>\n<p>            <a href=\"#\" class=\"ms-link text-link font-bold\">Take our survey<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"mt-1 text-body\">&#8211; The Autosport.com Team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ai Ogura scored a sensational pole position in qualifying for the Czech Grand Prix on Saturday, proving that&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":748754,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,5747,5746,5745,359756,806,805,803,804,85],"class_list":["post-748753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-brno-circuit","tag-czech-gp","tag-motogp","tag-motogp-czech-gp-ogura-scorches-to-first-pole-position","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/748753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=748753"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/748753\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/748754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=748753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=748753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=748753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}